1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to data processing systems and, in particular, to a data processing system and method including a server and client computer system coupled together utilizing a local area network. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a data processing system and method including a server and client computer system coupled together utilizing a local area network for permitting the client to temporarily prohibit remote management of the client.
2. Description of the Related Art
Personal computer systems are well known in the art. They have attained widespread use for providing computer power to many segments of today""s modern society. Personal computers (PCs) may be defined as a desktop, floor standing, or portable microcomputer that includes a system unit having a central processing unit (CPU) and associated volatile and non-volatile memory, including random access memory (RAM) and basic input/output system read only memory (BIOS ROM), a system monitor, a keyboard, one or more flexible diskette drives, a CD-ROM drive, a fixed disk storage drive (also known as a xe2x80x9chard drivexe2x80x9d), a pointing device such as a mouse, and an optional network interface adapter. One of the distinguishing characteristics of these systems is the use of a motherboard or system planar to electrically connect these components together. Examples of such personal systems are IBM""s PC 300 series, Aptiva series, and Thinkpad series.
With PCs being increasingly connected into networks to allow transfers of data among computers to occur, more operations such as maintenance, updating of applications, and data collections are occurring over the network. Computer networks are also becoming essential to their user. It is desirable minimize loss of productivity by increasing availability of network resources.
Remote management of client computer systems is becoming a part of both large and medium networks. Remote management provides tremendous cost of ownership advantages and provides better quality of service for a client.
However, expanding the role of remotely managed computer systems also increases the complexity of determining when the system may or may not need to be managed. There are times when network administrators have a need to manage all systems under their control in a short period of time, such as during an inventory check or installation of new software.
There are other times when the end user is performing a critical application and cannot allow the network administrator remote management of the client. For example, when the end user is performing a validation run, compilation of a program, or monitoring, the server should not remotely manage the client. During these times in the known art, the user can notify the network administrator who could remove the particular client from the remote management schedule.
Therefore a need exists for a data processing system and method for permitting a client computer systems to temporarily prohibit remote management of the client.
A data processing system and method including a server computer system and a client computer system coupled together utilizing a network are described for permitting the client computer system to temporarily prohibit remote management of the client computer system. The client computer system sets a remote override condition in the client computer system for temporarily prohibiting remote management of the client. The client temporarily prohibits all attempts to manage the client remotely utilizing the network when the remote override condition is set.
The above as well as additional objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed written description.